As a society, we tend to look at breakups and divorce as a failure. But a relationship ending doesn’t mean it wasn’t successful in some way. Sometimes a fling is ideal for both parties, sometimes a long marriage ending is the only chance for a new beginning, and every relationship teaches you something you didn’t know…

A wedding proposal deserves a little spectacle. Not an obnoxious viral-video stunt, but something to make your partner feel special. Putting some planning into it is an act of love. I talked to January of Engaged by January, a proposal planning service, about what to do—and what not to do—when you propose. And it’s…

If you have spent your whole life dreaming of getting married while wearing an ivory princess gown paired with a lacy cathedral bridal veil, surrounded by 500 of your nearest and dearest friends, this is not the blog for you. But if you like the idea of actually having a good time on your wedding day and in the period…

When you have babies and small kids, people give you so much advice—breast-feed, bottle-feed, co-sleep, use an infant straightjacket, get an electric swing that achieves as much noise and velocity as a rocket—that you can’t even remember it all. But one thing I do remember is that everyone insisted we make time for a…

“You get to work from home? That’s awesome!” That’s what they all say to you. You nod and grimace because you know, while it is nice to skip the commute and avoid office politics, working from home comes with its own set of challenges. Namely, you know how difficult it is to make people understand that just because…

The first important decision a married couple makes is ... how to get married. Black tie at the Ritz? Clambake at the shore? Backyard potluck? Research shows you might be better off with a cheap—but well-attended—wedding. Scott Stanley and Galena K. Rhoades, professors and researchers for the Institute of Family…

We don’t like to admit it, but a marriage (or any long, cohabiting relationship) looks less like an early romance and more like a business partnership. As organizational psychologist Adam Grant and his wife Allison Sweet Grant explain in Redbook, married life involves a lot of compromise and negotiation. They offer…

Most of us make resolutions to improve only ourselves: We vow to cut out sugar, work out three days a week, dust off the resume and start the job hunt for real. In general, resolutions tend to be very me-focused—willpower, weight loss, self-care.

“This is like ... date night,” I said to my husband as we were sitting in the bleachers, watching our four-year-old at her weekly evening swim class. Maybe that realization should have made depressed—with so much going on, I couldn’t remember the last time we had a proper date night—but it didn’t. We were nestled hip…

In this day, preparing for the birth of your first baby usually involves analyzing a spreadsheet filled with stroller specs and ratings, consulting etymology experts on hipster baby names, and deciding what tune to play when the tiny cherub journeys into the world: Lucinda Williams’ “Fruits of My Labor” or Iron &…

Have you ever had a moment of connection with a stranger? I’m not talking about a romantic or sexual connection (though those are nice too), but more of a quick smile as you pass on the street, or a one-off joke shared while waiting in the grocery-store line, or some other brief, shared experience that made you feel…

Once upon a time, we would only marry people we were somehow already connected to in our social circles. But since the advent of online dating, things have changed. Now, people are creating social links that were previously nonexistent, interracial marriage is on the rise, and married couples who met online are more…

A mom of two, Rachel Rabkin Peachman realized that as she holds down the metaphorical fort in her family—she’s the one who books dental appointments, remembers to pack jazz shoes, and knows exactly where the snow pants are stored if anyone asks—her husband gets to be the “fun parent,” the one who builds literal forts…